Just a couple of blocks off Main Street in Riverhead, in a former fire house, we found the newest member of the Riverhead craft beer scene, North Fork Brewing Company, joining Crooked Ladder, Moustache, and Long Ireland. We went there with our daughter and son-in-law, who are both beer lovers, and our two granddaughters, who sampled the home-made root beer for us. The junior members of our group rated the root beer as very good, with a nice licorice flavor, not too spicy, and “goes well with a grape lollypop.”

With four of us, we were able to sample all eleven brews currently on tap. If we had not just had lunch at Perabell (I recommend the thin-crust pizza.), we could have gotten tacos from a Mattitaco truck parked just outside the firehouse doors. They also sell North Fork potato chips.

This back area was roped off, but I assume they use it when the space becomes crowded.

The space is medium sized, and subscribes to the frequent brewery esthetic of industrial chic. I’ve noticed that many wineries evoke the rural scene around them, being housed in former barns or buildings that suggest farm structures, while breweries tend to be more factory-like, using repurposed car dealerships or firehouses or other industrial spaces. Not sure why that is, and of course it’s not true of them all.

Note the taps made from re-purposed firehouse lockers.

The very helpful and accommodating server explained to us that a flight consists of any four of their brews for $8. She handed out little cards on which we wrote down our choices. The four little glasses were carefully placed in a carrying tray with numbers corresponding to the number on the card of each choice. She noted that if we had trouble choosing, we could get a sip of the beers before deciding on our flight. However, with a little coordination, we realized that we could easily try all eleven. We gave up on a strict order of tastes, and there was no offer to suggest a succession, but we did generally try to go from lighter to heavier. (We overheard a server note that they carry Bridge Lane red and white blend wines, for those who would prefer not to drink a beer.)

Overall, we agreed that the beers were interesting and quite varied, though we didn’t like any one enough to take home a growler. Our son-in-law summed it up by noting that this was a good place to come to try lots of experimental beers, but most were too “in your face” to want a full glass to sip with a meal or on its own.

We have gotten take-out from Mattitaco several times, and liked every variety we’ve sampled so far.

Sticky Bandit IPA 6.9% ABV (alcohol by volume)

The brewery prides itself on acknowledging its North Fork roots, including literally, in that they have a farm where they grow much of their hops. This is a fresh, nicely hoppy IPA, with lots of grapefruit flavor. I could definitely see having this with one of Mattitaco’s fish tacos, like the seared tuna one on offer from the truck.

Run the Juice IPA 6.1% ABV

This tastes like a joint, said one of us (anonymously). It does have some vegetal notes, plus the grapefruit one expects in an IPA, in this case more like the pith than the fruit.

Pierce the Ale IPA 6.8% ABV

My daughter likes this the best so far of the IPAs, and said it would be refreshing on a hot day. I said it was like a better version of a Budweiser beer, easy to drink. This would also go well with a fish taco.

South Bend Shovel Slayer IPA 6.8% ABV

Some day I’ll have to come back and stand at the bar for my tastes so I can ask how they came up with some of these names. This is a piney rather than a grapefruity IPA, and my daughter liked this one as well.

Basement Pipe Belgian Dubbel 8.2% ABV

When we were in Belgium, I became very fond of the dubbel style of beer, which tends to be rich, with caramel and raisin flavors. I also like Raisin Bran cereal, which the taste of this reminded me of. Very good and refreshing. If I were to get a glass of a North Fork beer, this would be one contestant.

Take for Ever Sour 6.2% ABV

On the other hand, if I were given a glass of this, I would say thanks but no thanks. This is a dark, heavy sour beer, brewed with cherries, and tastes both sour and sweet. Last fall, I went to a brewery upstate that specialized in sour beers, and I never dumped so many tastes before. I say bleh, but, in a perfect illustration of how subjective and individual taste is, this is my son-in-law’s favorite.

Hop Contagion Imperial 8.25% ABV

Contagion indeed. This is very hoppy, and more bitter than I like, though balanced with some creaminess.

Dark Side of Maple Porter 6% ABV

My daughter and I both like this one, which reminds me of the glasses of bitter I have had in many English pubs. It is a bit on the light side for a porter. My daughter says she could see enjoying this with a serving of Shepherd’s pie, and I agree. Or maybe with the Mattitaco Ruben taco, made with corned beef.

Bill’s Hyper Local Forecast 5.9% ABV

I didn’t ask about this name, but I assume it refers to News 12’s tag line (this cable-company-sponsored channel specializes in Long Island news, traffic, and weather). The brewery characterizes this as a “winter warmer,” and it evokes a pumpkin ale, with tastes of cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. A bit too much cinnamon, though not bad in a small dose.

They kept the firehouse doors, though you enter through a small door on the side. I wonder if they open these in the summer.

Dough’nt Stout MeNow Imperial Milk Stout 9.3%

I knew right away that I had to try this one, as it is made “in collaboration with North Fork Doughnut Company,” one of my favorite new businesses in Mattituck. I also tend to like stouts. This has rich chocolate tastes, and though my son-in-law characterizes it as “too sweet for a pint,” I wouldn’t mind sipping it in a pub, perhaps with an order of chips (a.k.a. French fries). We are so inspired by our discussion of the North Fork Doughnut Company that our guests stop there on the way home to pick up some doughnuts for breakfast the next day. One granddaughter, a Girl Scout, is delighted to get a Samoa doughnut, and the other is pleased to have snagged “the last chocolate doughnut!” Alas, they were out of the maple-glazed bacon flavor.

A Samoa doughnut from the North Fork Doughnut Company. Yum.

Iron Pier Porter 5.4% ABV

My husband and I just recently drove over to Iron Pier beach, on the Sound, within the bounds of Riverhead (so our Southold parking stickers are not valid there), and thought it seemed very nice, with a good-sized parking lot and a little playground. This porter is made with coconut milk, and though I often like porters, this was not a favorite. It has a slight metallic taste, which I likened to licking metal, perhaps the source of the name.

Reasons to visit: you’re making the rounds of the Riverhead breweries; you like to try a wide variety of styles and experimental tastes of beer; the Mattitaco truck; the Pierce the Ale, Basement Pipe, Dark Side of Maple, and Dough’nt Stout Me Now (though, for some people the choices might be quite different!); a pleasant place with generous pours.

Riverhead has become something of a mecca for craft beer, with at least five brewing companies as I write this: Crooked Ladder, Long Beard, Long Ireland, North Fork, and the subject of today’s blog, Moustache Brewing Company. I haven’t been to Long Beard and North Fork yet, and it’s been awhile since I’ve been to the others. Part of the problem is that they tend to keep limited hours, opening late in the afternoon and not opening during the week.

Many of the breweries have limited hours during the week.

However, in the spirit of Oktoberfest, we decided to brave the crowds of cars headed east on this partly sunny Saturday and check out Moustache, which we hadn’t visited since January 2016. Then, the tasting room was an alcove between huge tanks of brewing beer, with a short bar and limited table space. Now they have opened an actual tasting room, with a long bar and communal tables, located on the same hard-to-find industrial back street of Riverhead. Thank goodness for Google maps, or we’d still be wandering around.

That is the rather nondescript entrance to the tasting room on a nondescript back street in Riverhead.

We were quickly greeted by one of the two bearded men behind the bar (there’s also a woman, who does not have a beard), prompting me to ask if a moustache was a prerequisite for employment. Nope. He cheerily informed us that a tasting consisted of four five-ounce pours, took and held our credit card, and gave us two blue tickets for our second round of drinks. What was this tasting going to cost us? There was nary a sign. What would a glass or growler cost? No idea. They should post a price list. At the end our bill was $9.01 for our shared tasting. Why the one cent? With some embarrassment he confessed that they had tried to make the price something that would include tax and come out even, and had miscalculated.

The menu is posted high on the wall.

They also have boxes of Bridge Lane wines.

Meanwhile, we studied the menu, trying to decide what to get, and looked around the fairly full room. It was quite noisy. As we left we noted a limo and a multi-cycle waiting outside, so maybe part of the noise was because we had happened on two parties. By the way, they allow dogs, children, and outside food. According to the website they sell North Fork potato chips, but I saw nothing about that at the bar.

Beards are not required, but it seemed as though they were.

Our server told us that their signature beers were the porter and the brown ale, so we decided to start with those. There was no indication, either in print or from our server, in what order to drink the beers, even when we asked.

The Everyman’s Porter and the Milk & Honey brown ale.

Everyman’s Porter 4.5% ABV (alcohol by volume)

This dark brown quaff has a lovely aroma of grains. It is light for a porter and easy to drink, with a pleasant bitterness but no depth. I could see sipping this in a pub along with an order of steak and kidney pie, hold the kidneys.

Milk & Honey 6%

A slightly lighter brown than the porter, this tastes quite different. It has a faintly vegetal aroma and the taste has a touch of sweetness and what my husband describes as “cold metallic.” Nice carbonation. This would be fine to drink on its own, or with a hot dog with spicy mustard.

Sailor Mouth 6.5%

There are several IPAs on the menu, so we asked for descriptions of them. I tend not to like extremely hoppy IPAs, thus we settled on this one. As I recall, two years ago when we asked for the origin of the name, Lauri Spitz, the co-owner with her husband Matthew, told us that it was named for her and her, shall we say, command of the language. In any case, this is a good summer beer. It smells of Christmas trees and citrus, and the taste is also somewhat piney and not very fruity, though we also detect tastes of pineapple and grapefruit. It’s not really a beer you’d want to sip on its own, but it would go great with barbequed pulled pork.

Note the structure of the bar: There is a raised lip a few inches in from the edge, which, we speculated, might lead to spilled beer with some regularity.

Slow Claps 4.3%

Again, there were a couple of pale ales on the menu, so we asked for help in choosing this one. It is the closest to a regular American beer, the type you might drink while eating nachos and watching the Stupor Bowl (as I call it—I watch it for the commercials). It is pleasant and light, but not memorable. We had brought a growler with us in case we wanted to take anything home, but left it in the car. No need to retrieve it.

As we left we noted a limo and a multi-cycle, which probably accounted for the noisy groups inside. Groups need a reservation, by the way.

Reasons to visit: you like craft beers and are not afraid to navigate the back streets of Riverhead; all the beers are definitely easy to drink and pleasant, but, at least based on what we tried, we prefer Greenport Harbor.